City/County begins Ivan clean-up

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Cleanup crews will be crawling all over Dallas County in the next few days, cleaning up debris from Hurricane Ivan.

According to Dallas County EMA Director Brett Howard, crews from Lee Helms and Associates, county road crews and city cleanup crews will be collecting “white-wood” debris from the right-of-way during the next few days, and have already begun.

Howard said crews were already working on County Road 63, in the Plantersville area.

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“We’ll be working the North end of the county

and the City of Selma,” Howard said.

In the city limits, Howard said crews were already working on Old Orrville Road and other areas.

At the last City Council meeting Mayor James Perkins Jr. explained that cleanup efforts were being coordinated between BFI, the county and city crews. The crews agreed to start on one side of the city, while city workers started on the other. Both will be working toward the center.

At Monday’s meeting, Perkins said the process had already begun.

“It’s a lot of trash out there,” he said, “(but) We anticipate a speedy cleanup.”

The cost of cleanup will be shared by FEMA, the state and the city and county.

For county and city cleanup, both governments must pay 15 percent of the cost for cleanup in their area.

FEMA will pay 75 percent while the state will pay the remaining 10 percent.

Perkins said part of the cost would be deferred by the city’s own cleanup efforts and that other FEMA grants could cover the rest.

“We have submitted Appl for cost reimbursements to FEMA,” he said. “We know are in a position to recoup much of our costs.”

Perkins and Howard urged all residents who needed debris cleaned up to put it in the city and county road right of ways.

“If you

haven’t done that, this weekend would be a very good time to do it,” he said. “We can’t move it off private property.”

Howard also asked that local charities and churches could pitch in, to help disabled and elderly residents who couldn’t move debris to the roadside get the materials in place for crews.

For more information, Perkins referred questions to the city’s General Service Department at 874-2170.